IPOH (Bernama), July 23, 2013: The Ipoh Hindu Devasthana Paripalana Sabha has received a show-cause letter and a three-month reprieve from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) as to why its registration should not be nullified following two instances of alleged financial irregularities.

ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said the organisation, which manages two of the biggest Hindu temples here, namely the Sri Maha Mariaman Temple, Sungai Pari, and the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunung Cheroh, was experiencing alleged incompetence in managing public funds.

"ROS has issued a show-cause notice as to why the organisation should not be struck off. As it stands now, they can be deregistered immediately on the basis of the two cases.

"We're not convinced by their explanations so far. But taking into account that there are two major festivals taking place at the temples in the next three months, we have postponed our decision and hope they will improve their management as promised," he told reporters at the Home Ministry Complex in Meru, here, Tuesday.

In May, ROS received a complaint that RM40,000 was missing from the organisation's funds following which an internal audit found that the money had been misappropriated by a staff.

The first case involved RM16,700 in 2012, which was also investigated by ROS, resulting in the amount deducted on a monthly basis from the staff concerned and a warning issued to improve their donation collection process.

Abdul Rahman said ROS wants the Ipoh Hindu Devasthana Paripalana Sabha to rectify its accounting and implement the 'points of sales' system for all its collection in order for the money to be tracked through its bank accounts.

"We'll monitor them in the next three months before making our final decision. The situation will be serious if they do not step up and improve because all the organisation's property will be handed to the Insolvency Department," he said.

He advised all organisations nationwide to resolve their problems through extraordinary or annual general meetings before taking them up with ROS in order to prevent being deregistered.

The Ipoh Hindu Devasthana Paripalana Sabha, which has highly valuable assets, also manages the Gunung Cheroh Cave temple and the Ipoh Hindu Cemetery and Crematorium.

Source: The National News Agency of Malaysia, DT. July 23, 2013.